Crosstown rivals in pennant races. Pimping home runs. Taunting. Rowdy crowd. Emotions running high. Trolling. Longest nine-inning game in Subway Series history.
Welcome to New York, baby.
Francisco Lindor stole the show and the game with his signature Mets moment – a three home-run night – to send the Amazin’s to a 7-6 win over the Yankees on Sunday at Citi Field. Lindor became the first player to crush three home runs in a Subway Series matchup, and he settled a heated feud between the Mets and Yankees by letting his bat do the talking.
Lindor’s solo home run off Chad Green in the eighth inning went to the second deck in right field to break the tied game and give the Mets the lead. He put his hand to ear as he left the box, as the raucous crowd went berserk for the $341 million shortstop. After Lindor embraced his teammates in the dugout, he climbed the top step, came out on the field, raised his arms and took a curtain call.
“This is the Francisco that we all expect, and this is the Francisco that the Mets fan base is going to get for years,” said manager Luis Rojas.
The benches cleared in the top of the seventh inning after Giancarlo Stanton mashed a game-tying two-run home run off Brad Hand. Stanton rounded second base and stopped to say something to Lindor at shortstop. The two All-Stars jawed at each other as dugouts and bullpens emptied. Stanton eventually turned around and finished his home-run trot while his teammates crowded around Lindor and Javier Baez. Brett Gardner gave a thumbs down in Baez’s and Lindor’s direction, referencing the controversy that took place late last month.
The feud calmed down shortly after, but the Subway Series rivalry was alive and well.
“I don’t think he was trying to fight,” Lindor said of Stanton’s words at short. “I think he was telling me, ‘I can do it too.’ That’s why I gave him the thumbs up. And I respect that. Both teams probably misinterpreted it right there. I’m not trying to fight nobody, and I’m sure Stanton wasn’t trying to fight me either.”
Lindor started the taunting on Sunday in the sixth inning, after he crushed his second home run of the game to extend the Mets lead. He blew a whistle at the Yankees during his trip around the bases, apparently mocking the Bombers for blowing whistles during Saturday’s game. The Yankees reportedly picked up on Taijuan Walker tipping his pitches in the first inning Saturday before third baseman Jonathan Villar alerted the Mets pitcher of the opposing team’s tactics. Stanton, after Sunday’s game, denied that report.
Following the Mets win, Lindor said he wasn’t accusing the Yankees of whistling, but felt like something out of the ordinary was going on, and he “took that personally.” And that’s why, as Lindor passed Gleyber Torres on his second home run, he told him: “Keep on whistling.” Stanton, though, said it was pitcher Wandy Peralta on Sunday who was whistling. Joey Gallo echoed Stanton, saying: “It was just Wandy trying to liven up the dugout.”
“There’s a lot at stake. It’s obviously a nice rivalry and both teams are in a tight race,” Stanton said. “Emotions are going to be up there. That’s how the game goes.”
The Mets (72-72) took two out of three from the Yankees over the weekend after Edwin Diaz collected his 29th save of the season Sunday. Diaz momentarily made a mess of things, allowing DJ LaMahieu to single and walking Anthony Rizzo, before he struck out Gardner and induced a pop fly to Stanton that, of course, landed in Lindor’s glove, to end the game 15 minutes after midnight.
It was the first time since 2013 the Mets won the Subway Series.
“Talk is cheap,” Stanton said. “I didn’t come up in that situation in the ninth inning.”
Both New York teams, sitting in third place in their respective divisions, are vying for October baseball with three weeks to qualify. Sunday night’s emotional game was a turning point for the Mets, in terms of momentum before continuing their home stand against the Cardinals on Monday, as they took down their crosstown rival.
The Yankees (79-64) were without their key slugger in the Subway Series finale after Aaron Judge left the game in the third inning. The Yankees later announced he left the game with dizziness and manager Aaron Boone told ESPN: “I didn’t want him to be in a position where he put himself in danger.”
On Lindor’s three-homer night, Boone said: “He put out a great performance and we lost a tough ballgame that we fought our way back in. I thought we competed really, really well. It was kind of a back-and-forth game. A great player finished off a great night and that ultimately was the difference. These games are huge, so it stings when you lose them, and pretty joyous when you get a win.”
